Austria is the home of the magnificent baroque castle known as “The Forest Castle.” From the late 12th century, when it served as a defensive stronghold, this location has been occupied by a castle. In later years, it was held by a local nobility who, in the early 1600s, made the decision to convert the fort into a mansion by remodeling it. Rebuilding the castle in the Baroque style was done so because that was the predominant architectural movement of the time.
In the 1940s, the castle served both as a hotel and a restaurant, and it remained in operation in both capacities right up to the late 1960s. By this point, it gives the appearance of having shut down and being abandoned to deteriorate. At the middle of the 2010s, a new owner purchased the chateau with the intention of renovating it and saving it from further deterioration.
During the summer of 2016, we went on an excursion to the Baroque Castle In The Forest. Undoubtedly, there were indications that renovations were being made. The hole in the roof had been filled, and there were heaps of tiles stacked within the door for additional roofing work. On the other hand, as is so frequently the case, it would appear that the work was halted for an unknown cause.
A DARK TALE FROM THE OLD CASTLE IN THE WOODS, WHICH IS IN THE BAROQUE STYLE
There is a single melancholy tale that takes place in this castle. The narrative is included in a book that is primarily fictional but is also based on the authors’ real experiences during the 1940s. The book was written by the authors. The following story comes from a part of the book in which the author makes a point of stating explicitly that it is factually based. It is difficult to tell how much of this is dramatization and how much is based on actual events. Due to the fact that I could only obtain a small portion of the book, the following section is based only on the material that I did manage to locate.
In a portion of the book, the author’s parents are shown as fleeing the Soviets in the months following the conclusion of World War Two in an effort to find safety. As they arrived at the Baroque Castle In The Forest, they discovered that it had been abandoned and severely looted. Throughout the course of their investigation, they came across the dead bodies of the property’s former owners. Each of the deceased had a single gunshot wound to the head, and the bodies were found lying in front of the nearby hunting lodge. Their malnourished family pet dogs were standing guard nearby, watching over the bodies of their former masters.
The author recounts that the people who owned the castle had fled to their hunting lodge deep within the woods out of fear that they would be attacked by looters or possibly even the advancing Soviet forces. They were alarmed when they heard activity nearby and saw flames being set because they believed the end was drawing nigh. It appears that they took their own lives when there was no longer any chance of survival. It is unclear how much of this is based on actual events and how much is made up for the sake of the story. In either case, the enigmatic Baroque Castle In The Forest has another facet thanks to the telling of this story.
